Convenience stores understand why customers choose to eat breakfast outside of the home. Fifty-eight percent of consumers who eat breakfast away from home do so because of convenience, according to the “Breakfast Keynote Report” fielded in April 2024 by research firm Datassential. And c-stores know how to deliver on convenient, quick breakfast options. However, 36%…
Legislation Looms for Tobacco
As a longtime staple in the convenience store industry, tobacco has always been a key category on which retailers have focused. In recent years, however, increasing regulations have forced c-stores to repeatedly revamp their backbars to stay in compliance with changing rules, particularly around vape. Now, c-store operators are keeping an eye on the Food…
Six Strategies for Coping with Inflation in Convenience Store Foodservice
Convenience store foodservice operators are coping with inflation in different ways, but it is the consumer that has had to make serious adjustments to their spending habits. It is up to operators to provide their customers with quality options at a manageable price. This is something that is quite doable as long as the operator…
Managing Your Workforce in 2024
These are challenging times for retailers as many external forces impact hiring and retention. The convenience store industry is in a tight battle for frontline talent today at a time when many new policies and standards are also being implemented. All of this comes at a time when employees are still lukewarm about returning to…
EV Adoption Still a Long Game
The past year has seen shifting trends in gas demand and fluctuating oil prices, inflation increases, a federal push for electric vehicle (EV) adoption and charger implementation, and growth in biofuel usage. These factors have all contributed to the fuel landscape in 2023 and its trajectory for 2024. Since one of the biggest draws bringing…
Homing in on Loss Prevention
Loss prevention is essential when running a successful and thriving c-store. Having different loss prevention strategies in place helps retailers keep a close eye on their stores while ensuring employees and customers are safe. However, as theft continues to rise in the U.S., c-store retailers must stay vigilant when it comes to upgrading the loss…
Staying Competitive in a Dog-Eat-Dog Industry
Knowing that the c-store industry is, and always will be, extremely competitive, it is as important as ever to know how you, as a retailer, can keep an edge over your competitors. To provide some guidelines on how to make this a reality, Ipsos recently conducted its annual Petro-Convenience Experience Competitive Benchmark Study to give…
The 2024 Social Media Awards
CStore Decisions, for the 12th consecutive year, is recognizing the convenience store chains performing best on social media platforms. This year we looked at performance across Facebook (FB), Instagram (IG), X — formerly Twitter — and TikTok. For the fourth year in a row, CStore Decisions partnered with Rival IQ to determine the winners. Rival…
Looking Ahead in 2024
As we begin 2024, it is the ideal time to look back at the past 12 months to hone in on the challenges retailers faced and look ahead to forecast the sales trends retailers can expect to see over the next year. It was relatively easy last year to predict that foodservice would continue climbing…
A Look Inside Rusty Lantern’s New Design
C-store retailer Rusty Lantern is no stranger to innovation — recently, the brand unveiled a completely new design that was in the works for more than a year and a half. The refurbished look has been rolled out at one location in Maine with two to come very soon. “I wanted to (do) something that…